Oracle has a Team of Recruiters responsible for bringing talented individuals into Oracle. This Blog gives people an insight into what it is like to work at Oracle.

Wednesday Mar 25, 2015

When you ask Oracle employees what they like most about working at Oracle, they often say it’s the people. Oracle is filled with smart, passionate, caring people doing challenging work and leading interesting lives. We set out to capture employee stories in a series of videos to recognize and celebrate the amazing people working at Oracle.[Read More]

Friday Mar 20, 2015

When you ask Oracle employees what they like most
about working at Oracle, they often say it’s the people. Oracle is
filled with smart, passionate, caring people doing challenging work and
leading interesting lives. We set out to capture employee stories in a
series of videos to recognize and celebrate the amazing people working
at Oracle.[Read More]

Tuesday Feb 10, 2015

Are you
curious about what it’s really like to be a part of Oracle? Join us and get a
firsthand look at the inner operations at one of our local open office events,
where you can get an exclusive glimpse into the life of our Oracle sales employees.
You’ll get a guided tour of our office space, Q&A session with current
employees, enlightening discussions from our guest speakers, and snacks and
drinks will be provided! [Read More]

Wednesday Feb 04, 2015

I have worked with Hiring Managers at all levels and it is human nature to want to find the ‘best’ candidate when you are hiring – but Hiring Managers next time you are hiring for your team, quantify what the ‘best candidate’ means for your role. Ask yourself do you really want to hire a bona fide Rock Star or do you potentially really only need an X-Factor (or substitute The Voice, American Idol, or other) contestant for your role.

Many Hiring Managers when they are hiring for their team will loosely throw around the term ‘Rock Star’ and follow it up with comments like ‘I want the best in the business, I need a game-changer, I need someone who can take us in a new direction, etc……

There are 2 main things that I question when I hear someone say these statements. The first is, when I hear a Hiring Manager say statements like this, I think wait a second all I am hearing is what the Hiring Manager wants or needs. A good Recruiter will challenge the Hiring Manager and work out what is the value proposition for the candidate? It is great to hear what a Hiring Manager wants but any work relationship is a two way street. While a Manager may address what his/her needs are when they work with their Recruiter, what would this potential role give to this all star candidate that they want to hire. If your Recruiter does not ask you this or qualify this with you, I recommend looking at the service you are getting from your Recruiter.

The second thing that causes alarm bells for me is really a follow on from the first statement and that is : is the Hiring Manager trying to put a rock star candidate into a regular role or a regular company. If you are hiring and you look at your role on offer and your company – does your role or company really necessitate a rock star candidate?

A few examples of this could be you want a person to change the ‘game’ (what ever that means to you), but you look at their productivity based on how many hours they sit at a desk not by results achieved. Or for example you want the best sales person there is in your industry, but your commission structure is not competitive or your company’s management style is outdated, tired and unproductive.

In these examples why would a ‘rock star’ want to take on one of these roles? What is the value proposition or attraction for them to consider this role. If they are the best in the market, odds are that they are already in a good role and do not need to go anywhere. So what is it that you offer that would make that person you want to stand up and take notice.

Rock stars need to be able to make success happen – Eddie Van Halen didn’t create his great licks and solos following a script. If you want to hire someone who will take direction as you need and be a corporate clone of what you want, you probably want to hire an X-factor candidate that will do as they are told and follow the script to create their 15 minutes of fame. If you really want to hire the best candidates in your market make sure that you have the business need that necessitates you finding and hiring that person otherwise you will end up putting a high achieving individual into a regular role which may create a situation where you have hired the wrong person for the role you needed to hire for.

The flow on effect of hiring the wrong person has multiple implications. Not only will the relationship with your new star hire likely sour, but you will have invested a lot of time and energy to get this person on board only to have to go through this exercise again. Not every role in every company requires a rock star – before you start sourcing candidates for your next requirement, take the time to really understand what you need out of the role. It is more important to find the person who is the right fit for the role you have then necesarily just looking at the brightest student, the best sales person by $$$ booking, etc…..

Tuesday Jan 20, 2015

Luck, good old fashioned luck. How many times as a Hiring Manager have you identified a great candidate, went out and got your approvals, sent out your Letter of Offer to the aforementioned great candidate thinking the job was done, only to have your great candidate let you know ‘thanks for the job offer, but I can’t accept the offer because……… (insert reason here: counteroffer, partner not happy, can’t relocate, other offer, etc…..). If you are a Hiring Manager and this happens to you regularly you need to sit down with your Recruiter now!

Bad Recruiters, will say it was an unforeseen circumstance and just bad luck, where as good Recruiters would have seen this coming a hundred miles away and either probed the candidate further before making an offer and closed any loose ends or realised that the job you had to hire for was never a top priority for the candidate.

Yes Recruitment has many similar traits to a good sales model. One of the classic sales lines is to know your ABC’s and Always Be Closing and this holds true in recruitment as well. I have seen both good and bad Recruiters in my 16 years in Recruitment – good Recruiters know the job they are hiring for, know the Hiring Managers needs and know the candidates needs. They always find a way to balance all these needs into a smooth recruitment process for everyone involved. To create a smooth process the Recruiter needs to always be keeping their finger on the pulse of the candidates and Hiring Manager.

‘Always Be Closing’ is not a bad thing, and I think many Recruiters are afraid to ask closing questions to candidates for fear of being seen as unfriendly maybe or fear of what the candidate may actually say. In some Recruiters minds I suppose they take the approach of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and hope and pray that the candidate they have found takes the role they have, because deep down they know the candidate is probably not happy with some part of the role/salary/responsibilities. To me this makes no sense. It does not make sense to invest the Hiring Managers time, the Candidates time and your time as a Recruiter putting everyone through a process that will not have outcome everyone wants to achieve. If you don’t have the ‘what are your salary expectations’ conversation at the beginning of the process why put a candidate through multiple interviews and get to the end of the process when it turns out they want $20,000 more than what the role you are filling pays.

Good Recruiters, will take the time to understand the candidates they are working with, they will know what they think of the role, what their salary expectations are, if it is the next natural step in their career, if they need to relocate if they are open to that and if their family is supportive of a move. They will understand and be able to address any questions or concerns a candidate may have and the candidate may have new questions come up at different stage of the interview process. If you are not talking to your candidate to help them through the process and keep them educated about the role/company so they can make an informed choice you are doing your company and the candidate a disservice.

If the role is not right for the candidate – don’t try to fit a square into a circle, it means you must go find and screen candidates who not only fit the requirements of the role but also find people where the role fits their requirements for the candidates next career opportunity.

Monday Jan 05, 2015

I joined Oracle Direct in 1996 on a role that when I look
back now has long disappeared. What I did not expect back then is that I would
end up leading a team of top Technology Sales Consultants covering over 70
internal Sales reps for the UK and Ireland.

Exciting journey

What I did not imagine back then either is the scale of
knowledge and skill that Oracle has helped me acquire throughout the 18 years
that I have been here. It has been a truly exciting journey and it is getting
even more and more exciting every day. Now I am looking at the future from a
feeling of being on top of the world in the best possible company that will
motivate anyone that wants to be involved in using or adopting the latest IT
technology and applying the best selling methodologies.

Industry Leader

Oracle has been amongst the Industry leaders on the 95% of
the products it sells, for years and will continue to be for years to come. No
one has the ability to acquire the top market leading products and integrate
them so solidly and transparently like Oracle does. No other company offers the
best product portfolio, the best integrated products, no matter what industry
you look at like Oracle does. When Oracle
says they will be the 1st on something, you bet, it’s going to
happen. The latest challenge now is become number 1 in Cloud, whether SaaS,
PaaS or IaaS, only Oracle has what is needed to do it without depending on 3rd
party suppliers. The only company that caters for big and small customers
equally.

Friday Nov 07, 2014

My name is Sanket Atal and I am the Group Vice President with the product development organization in India. This is my second stint at Oracle, having left the company for 4 years to explore what other companies and businesses are like.

The journey with Oracle began in January of 1997 when I, along with a few others, setup the R&D centre for Oracle in the city of Portland, Oregon - a place also famous for having Nike’s headquarters in its suburb of Beaverton. Working at Oracle was a glorious experience where I had the opportunity to work on many areas, including being part of the team that started Fusion Middleware, which is one of the highest revenue generating software products of Oracle.

At Oracle, engineers are treated with tremendous respect and the environment is setup to encourage creativity which leads to great innovation. With Fusion Middleware, we had the opportunity to create a lot of great products from scratch, as well as integrate others that had been acquired. It was such a rewarding experience and one that truly made me a complete engineer. I moved to India in 2006 and was very impressed with Oracle’s formidable presence here. The R&D organization at Oracle is truly “global” - teams are comprised of engineers who just happen to be dispersed around the world but are all working towards the same goal.

After having been with Oracle for 13+ years, I made the decision to leave, not because of any discontent, but rather to better understand how other companies work. My first job after leaving was for a US based MNC, heading its largest R&D center worldwide. This was followed by a role heading all technology (R&D, Hosting Infrastructure, Internal IT) for one of the leading E-Commerce companies in India. Both of these experiences were fantastic as they provided me with great knowledge and an insight into different industries.

They also made me realize something else - the engineering environment that Oracle has is something that companies strive for but is very difficult to achieve. At Oracle, engineers are greatly empowered and each engineer has the ability to influence the product. In addition to this, there is a lot of focus on enabling personal growth through education and mentoring. And finally, the work culture promotes work-life balance. The combination of all of these makes for a place that is a haven for engineers.

My rejoining has been a wonderful homecoming with so many colleagues world-wide welcoming me back. Oracle is making great strides in the brave new world of Cloud technologies and has done an amazing job of innovating as well as seamlessly integrating technologies that it has obtained through acquisitions worldwide. I look forward to the exciting journey ahead.

Thursday Nov 06, 2014

Today Louise Holmes is sharing more information about the Sales
Consulting (Pre-Sales) teams we have in Oracle Direct. Louise is managing a
team of Sales Consultants who are specialised in our Customer Experience portfolio,
covering Sales Consulting activities for different countries in Europe. Louise
joined Oracle in 2005 and started her career in the Business Development Group
for Technology solutions before moving into a Sales Consultancy role in the
Engineered Systems team in 2008. Louise then moved into the exciting
Applications Business focussing on Customer Experience solutions where she
worked on a number of successful deals before embarking on her management
career.

Presenting
Oracle Solutions

Louise: “In Oracle, Sales
Consulting are the “go-to” people for all things related to articulating and
presenting the value of a varied suite of Oracle Solutions. We have a
fantastic working relationship with a growing group of Sales Representatives
and together we work to ensure that the customer has an in-depth understanding of the solution at hand.

The first step to achieving this is to present the look and feel of the
application. We demonstrate in a variety
of ways, using mobile technology, face to face and via the web. We have a
focus on constantly innovating and enhancing our demonstrating and presentation
techniques. Sales Consultants share the
latest, Expert Solutions knowledge with our internal and external audiences.
We regularly participate in customer events, where we can showcase knowledge
and insight at various ongoing events such as the Digital Marketing Expo or
Customer Journey Mapping Sessions...[Read More]

Friday Sep 05, 2014

Oracle Direct is starting a Cloud Sales Consulting team,
supporting our continuously expanding Public Cloud Platform business in Europe
Middle East and Africa, both in Romania and Ireland. Find out more about the
roles by following this link: http://linkd.in/1rP6myN

We invited John McGann, EMEA Sales Consulting, Strategy and
Programs Director to give us more details about the new team that is
being built in Dublin and Bucharest.

"Hi, my name is John McGann and I am part of the Oracle
Direct management team, based in Dublin. These are very exciting times in
Oracle: as part of our focus on being Number 1 in Cloud, we are starting up a
whole new team within the Sales Consulting organization to support the
Technology Cloud Platform– specifically our Infrastructure and Platform
Services (PaaS and IaaS).

Oracle has a long history of excellence and leadership in
Database , Middleware and Development tools, and making these available to
existing and new customers via our Public Cloud is a logical next step to offer
more choice and flexibility in how our products can be consumed. This change
also has implications for how we are organized and operate as a sales team: we
need a dedicated group of Sales Consulting or ‘Presales’ professionals who will
be 100% dedicated to growing ourTech Cloud business. This team will focus on
supporting customers who may be taking a trial of our Cloud Services,
evaluating an initial purchase, or helping them expand their utilization of our
services as we continue to release new offerings...

Wednesday Aug 20, 2014

If you have a
technical background, why should you choose a career in support?

We have invited Serban to answer these questions and
to give us an overview of one of the biggest technical teams in Oracle Romania.
He’s been with Oracle for 7 yearsleading the local PeopleSoft Financials &
Supply Chain Support team. Back in 2013 Serban started building a new support
team in Romania – Fusion HCM. His current focus is building a strong support
team for Fusion HCM, latest solution for Business HR Professionals from Oracle.
The solution is offered both on Premise (customer site installation) but more
important as a Cloud offering – SaaS.

So, why should a technical person choose Software Support
over other technical areas?

“I think it is mainly because of the high level of technical
skills required to provide the best technical solutions to our customers.
Oracle Software Support covers complex solutions going from Database or
Middleware to a vast area of business applications (basically covering any
needs that a large enterprise may have). Working with such software requires
very strong skills both technical and functional for the different areas, going
from Finance, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing, Sales to other very
specific business processes...

Tuesday Aug 19, 2014

Today we would like to share some information around the
Dutch Core Technology team in Malaga. Matthijs is one of the team members who
decided to relocate from the Netherlands to Malaga to join Oracle Direct two
years ago.

Matthijs: “For the past two years I have been working as an
Oracle Direct Core Technology Inside Sales representative for Named Accounts in
the Netherlands, based in Malaga, Spain.

In my case, working for the Dutch OD Core Technology team
means that I am responsible for the Account Management of Larger companies in
the Travel & Transportation and the Manufacturing, Retail &
Distribution sector. I work together with the Oracle Field Account Managers and
our Field Sales Management in the Netherlands where I am often the main point
of contact for customers. This means that I deal with their requests and I
manage their various issues, provide solutions and suggestions based on the
Oracle Core Technology portfolio. I work on interesting projects with
end-customers, making financial proposals and building business cases. It is a
very interesting sales environment and for the last two years I improved my
skills substantially. This month I will finish my Inside Sales career in Malaga
to move to a position within Field Sales in the Netherlands. Oracle Direct has
proven to be a great stepping stone for my career...

Thursday Aug 14, 2014

One of the words that best describe Oracle is innovation. It is one of the company’s
core values and it’s essential to Oracle’s business. We encourage our employees
to seek innovative and creative approaches to problem-solving and we show
appreciation to those who think outside the box. Stef has been awarded the ‘The
Most Innovational person in Oracle Direct EMEA in Q4' prize for the great ideas he had
for closing deals and generating revenue. It is our pleasure to have him on board.

Stef is an Inside Sales Representative within Oracle Direct
and his main goal is to create additional funnel and to close transactional
deals. When he joined Oracle he started working with the Dutch Local
Government, but then switched towards commercial accounts. Oracle Direct is a
really great opportunity for anyone looking for a successful career in sales.

When you work in sales you need to find new ways of
convincing the client to choose you over the competition, so innovative
thinking is a must. Stef is one of the reps who find smart new ways to close
deals with customers and he is always out for the WIN-WIN. He has developed
amazing strategies which generated a lot of revenue. Being really open minded
he finds a way to collaborate with all his stakeholders in order to get the
best results for all.

What best describes Stef is what one of his colleagues said “Short
of hair but never short of great ideas to help you go forward!”...

Monday Aug 11, 2014

We are delighted to have inspiring leaders working for Oracle
and Brian is definitely one of them. He has recently been titled ‘The Most
Inspirational person’ in Oracle Direct EMEA in Q4 FY14. Brian manages the
Business Development team looking after promoting all Oracle applications
across the UK & South Europe. The team is responsible for driving new
business and proactively targeting Mid- Size Enterprise through outbound
activities. In addition to this he is also the CRM Functional leader for
Western Europe, having the responsibility to ensure that the goals of the
business development organization are aligned to that of the wider CRM sales
organization.

Here is what one of the Oracle Direct employees said about
Brian: “He is an excellent Manager, the best I have worked for. He has the
energy, passion and a “can do” attitude which is contagious. Brian helped me be
the best I could be and always had a positive approach and was always available
to me and the team. Brian is creative and his management style brings out the
best in people and makes work fun.”

Brian has been with Oracle just over 3 years. He was
promoted to this role in January having previously been an Inside Sales Rep
selling in the UK Financial Services. We asked him to give us an insight into
his role as a Manager and he said: “The most rewarding aspect of my role is
watching people join the team just out of college and grow into IT sales
people. I enjoy the competitive nature of the job, as a sales representative
the competition to deliver “the best quarter” is ferocious and now as a manager
I can see that that attitude continues amongst the managers and other lines of
business...[Read More]

Wednesday Jul 23, 2014

This time we asked Régis to speak about his experience at
Oracle. He joined the company a year and a half ago as a HCM Sales Representative,
covering the French Market.

“I have been in the Software Industry for 4 years now. My
previous job was as a Field Sales Rep on SMB Accounts in Paris and now I’m a
HCM Inside Sales Rep for Named Accounts. Being at Oracle allows me to sell a
large range of HCM Products, covering aspects from Talent Management (how to
develop and train your employees), the Recruitment process (how to detect new
Talents for your organization, through normal methods or even thanks to the
advantages of the Social networks), to Compensations & Benefits. I am the
main point of contact for some of the French markets biggest companies which
means that I deal with their requests and I manage their various issues, always
providing solutions and suggestions based on our portfolio. There is a wide
range of products that companies can select from to grow their business and
improve the performance.

What I truly like
about my job at Oracle is that it has given me an international mindset. Being
part of this fast and growing company makes you interact with people from all
over the world and deal with a variety of responsibilities. As a HCM Sales
representative I help my customers that require international HR processes to
find solutions to their requests and challenges, according to their local
policies and requirements. For instance, one of my clients which are a
well-known French Retail company with shops in many countries around the world
has recently decided to maximize their recruiting process. Having chosen Oracle
HCM Cloud, they will now be able to support the business growth through the
recruiting solutions we provided as well as through the new Social Sourcing
techniques which we presented...[Read More]

A
few years ago I attended a training course which was designed to help
participants understand how they think and behave to help them make
better decisions both individually and as part of a team. In this
training I completed an Emergenetics Profile
which helps you understand the way you think. There are 4 Distinct
Categories which are Analytical, Structural, Social and Conceptual which
are fairly self explanatory. The training was really insightful and
helped me better understand the way I tend to approach situations and
also better understand how others approach situations as well.

When
I took the test my profile was heavily weighted to ‘Conceptual’
thinking which has thinking attributes and traits such as Imaginative,
Learns by experimenting, Enjoys the creative process, etc…. Looking at
my work I can see this reflected in the projects and work that I do.
While it is great to have a conceptual approach to creating solutions
that has to be counter balanced with activity from the other categories –
any plan needs elements of the other traits involved as well to be
successful. What good is having a big plan if you do not take care of
the basics or learn how to translate your big ideas into bite size
action items. Everyone has an idea, the hard part is taking those ideas
and turning them into reality...

About

Oracle has a dedicated Global Team of Recruiters who are responsible for identifying and bringing talented individuals into Oracle. This Blog gives people an insight into what it is like to work at Oracle and provide an avenue to explore
opportunities with us. Initial enquiries can be made to david.talamelli@oracle.com